|
History and background
This Diorama started out as an ambitious model of a FW190 in
Winter/Spring Camouflage from the eastern front, once the model was completed I
had the basis to complete and attempt something I have always wanted to do, a
winter diorama. The problem
was I have never seen one done that looked real and there is not much out there
for reference on how to pull this off. I
spoke to everyone I know about it and most just shrugged their shoulders and
tried to talk me into putting it on grass and saying it was spring.
Nope, I had to try this and
I am thrilled with the result. I will try to explain as best I can how this all came
together and hopefully readers will get some ideas and maybe pass them on to me
or the site, I would love any tips anyone has.
Lets get to it.
The
Kit
|
Click on image to
right to see larger image |
The
Kits used are a Dragon FW190, Verlinden super l
detail set, barrels, Luftwaffe carts, Luftwaffe pilots and some airfield
accessories.
No I don’t work for Verlinden
<grin> its just what I used.p |
|
Construction
| First
thing we needed to get started is a good strong wood base with routered
edges, sufficient in size to accommodate all the objects but small
enough to fit in my display case. OK,
I admit, I found out that it fit the case after it was done, <FEW>
but you might want to think about this in advance. |
| Click
on images below to see larger images |
 |
 |
|
| I
wanted the background to have some definition, so I built up the rear of
the base with Styrofoam and carved it to the approx size and shape
desired. The foam was glued
down with white wood glue so I could move it around before it dried in
place. Next step was to apply Polly Instafil (drywall filler) to the
foam and work it down over the whole base to give the groundwork a good
foundation. Important point
with this, the Poly works good |
|
but
about 1 hour after application put on a rubber glove and smooth the fill
with water and your finger to remove any unsightly ridges and make it more
realistic, snow has a very smooth top surface if it is untouched and
sandpaper scratches will look awful.
This whole process took most of a week because I could not decide
on placement of the objects , since all items were previously assembled
and sitting on my shelf awaiting a home I could move everything around a
hundred times to get the right look I desired.
I would strongly recommend this, remember the 6 P’s, Prior
Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. |
| Click
on image below to see larger image |
 |
|
Next
step was to make the planks for the aircraft stand.
These I made individually out of small wood trim, I cut every piece of
wood to make the base as realistic as possible, this was no small task but I
believe well worth the effort, you can buy pre made versions of this but they
just wont work on a specific project like this. Once this was complete I spent another few days working the
planks into place with white glue, one plank at a time.
Once all the planks were dry I applied more poly around the edges of the
planks to simulate snow on the edge of the stand. Next I gave the base another
thin coat of poly and pressed in the tire tracks for the carts and many
footprints. Once dry, I coated the base in earth brown and gave is some varied
raw umber washed to get some texture and depth which I wanted to show through
the snow.
|
While
the base dried I started work on the trees, I found some pine trees from a
train supply section and started to play.
Luckily it snowed heavily that night and my wife wondered why I was
sitting in the back yard looking out at
trees when I should have been clearing the driveway. LOL, she
should know better by now, a few days latter she said that my model trees
look exactly like our backyard. LOL.
The trees actually were
very easy to accomplish, I just used thinned out Poly on my finger and
brushed the trees in a downward motion until the Poly stuck to the
branches, thus looking like accumulated snow.
Once dry a very light dusting of flat white finished the effect. |
| Click
on image below to see larger image |
 |
|
| Continuing
with the base I wanted not only to simulate track and footprints I thought
that if dirt and mud simulating spring conditions would look better that
just white dents in the snow. The
whole base was painted flat white and given a coat of future floor wax to
seal the base for weathering with oils.
Basically all I did was give the white area a specific wash of raw
umber in various shades and concentrated on the indentations in the snow.
A black wash was put on the aircraft hardstand.
Once this was dry a simple dry brushing of white on the snow and
light brown on the base completed the effect nicely. |
| Click
on image below to see larger image |
 |
|
| The
stack of barrels in the background was another experiment, I wanted to
make a tarp that had recent snow accumulations.
The barrels were completed and a tissue placed |
| over
the barrels and wet down so it would conform to the pull of gravity so to
speak. Once this dried and look realistic enough for my liking I
added white glue to the water and sprayed the whole area again, this when
dry gave a permanent rigidness to the object.
A simple brush painting of olive drab and a kaki dry brush and it
was ready for a small amount of poly on the top to simulate the snow.
Mission accomplished. This technique was duplicated for the wing tarps on the
aircraft and ground, the snow effect was repeated on the spare droptank
and crates already completed. |
| Click
on image below to see larger image |
 |
|
Conclusion
The
final step was to position all the objects into their pre determined spot and flat coat the base with Poly Flat.
The whole process took over 4 months and I estimate 100 hours of
enjoyable time in the hobby room. I
hope I have shed a little light on how I completed this project and if you have
any ideas please send a email myself I am always looking for new ways to
complete my projects.
As
a footnote the pics are taken with a Canon powershot digital camera.
Happy
modeling
Ray
| Click on images below to
see larger images |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
